A former dairy industry executive has been appointed as the new chief financial officer at New Zealand's only NZX-listed medicinal cannabis company.
Cannasouth has appointed Colin Foster to succeed Rob Braithwaite.
The company publicly listed in June 2019 and expanded with the acquisition of a 60 percent strategic stake in Midwest Pharmaceutics NZ Limited in October 2019.
Since then, the Government has released its new medicinal cannabis regulations and Cannasouth Cultivation Limited has received a resource consent to begin construction of its medicinal cannabis cultivation facility in the Waikato.
Construction of the cultivation and processing facilities is expected to start in February and be fully operational by mid-2020.
Cannasouth CEO Mark Lucas said the appointment of Foster was a logical progression as Cannasouth grew from a purely research-based organisation into a fully commercial enterprise.
"Rob played an integral role in the formation of Cannasouth and helped us navigate our way through the complex process of becoming a listed NZX company," said Lucas.
"Colin is a chartered accountant with strong corporate and financial management skills gained over 33 years of senior financial leadership at Tatua Dairy Co-Operative Limited and Anchor Products Limited.
"His wide general management experience will add significantly to the senior leadership team of Cannasouth."
In announcing Foster's appointment, Lucas said the company was now well-placed to move to full commercial production as soon as the appropriate licences can be obtained once the Government's scheme comes into force on April 1, 2020.
Foster was previously the general manager of finance and administration for Waikato-based Tatua Dairy Cooperative.
He also held a senior financial management role at Anchor Products Limited, which subsequently became part of Fonterra.
He said he was excited to join Cannasouth at the early stage of its corporate development.
"The focus of Cannasouth will be on delivering value-added, top quality, high-end medicinal cannabis products and I am looking forward to playing a part in making that happen," said Foster.
